


Guest of Honour

by Kastaka



Category: Hebrew Bible
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-23
Updated: 2012-12-23
Packaged: 2017-11-22 04:21:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/605767
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kastaka/pseuds/Kastaka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It would have been an excellent plan, if it had never had to come into contact with reality...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Guest of Honour

**Author's Note:**

  * For [redletters](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redletters/gifts).



> With thanks to Ferret for beta-ing :-)

"Chabri," she said, wearily. "Charmi. Thank you for showing up. Now. What's the plan?"  
  
The two men looked at each other, awkwardly. Judith watched them with an expectant gaze; she'd invited them both so that they wouldn't feel so intimidated, and so that word would not get round that she had invited _a_ man to her house.  
  
Together, they could report on the behaviour of the other, which was much more respectable.  
  
And instead of just the two of them, they had brought the whole crowd - including Ozias, who she'd never thought that she'd manage to get through the door.  
  
But she was becoming increasingly convinced that they did not have a plan.  
  
"Look," she said. "We knew they'd taken the springs twenty days ago. I know that the affairs of war are not a woman's place; so I didn't say anything then. I'd assumed you had it all under control. But today I hear that there is no water - none, not even a drop. And all of a sudden, when the water ration was just fine yesterday."  
  
Chabri nodded, in confirmation of her statement. Every word she said was true. That didn't make it any less unwelcome, of course.  
  
"And now I hear that we're waiting again - only this time it's five days, and if nothing improves we'll surrender," she concluded.  
  
Her searching gaze did not elicit any further information from the men, nor any angry proclamation that of course they had it in hand; so she pressed on.  
  
"Where did five days come from, anyway? Only the people with private supplies are going to survive those five days, you understand that? People who depend on the water collection will either be slipping out in ones and twos, turning themselves in, or they will be dead on the streets - especially if any of them take to the fever."  
  
It was especially uncomfortable to hear her talk about death and fever so lightly, given that was how her husband had passed away, some years before.  
  
"Did you think you could set some kind of ultimatum for the Lord our God? Do you think He responds to your petty brinkmanship? Wouldn't He have preferred the people to be praying fervently for the past twenty days, rather than have your careful doling out of the reserves hiding the problem from the people? Sometimes He doesn't help right away - sometimes He makes us wait, sometimes we suffer - even the founding fathers of our faith suffered for reasons that they couldn't and weren't meant to understand at the time. But we do know one thing - He doesn't like working to our timescales. So trying to set the clock on Him is only going to bring anger - not the help that you were after."  
  
"Look," said Ozias. "You're right - of course you're right. But how is that going to help? Can you use your wisdom to intercede for us? Can you use your knowledge of the Lord's ways to get Him to save us?"  
  
"You're still going about it the wrong way," she told him. "You can't tell the Lord of Lords what to do. You can only act correctly, and trust in Him - and that's trust in Him to do the right thing, not necessarily the thing which is comfortable to you. But listen. You want my help?"  
  
"We'll take anyone's help, right now," admitted Charmi, apologetically. She must know that, being a single woman, even a rich one, she was something of a last resort for assistance with a military problem.  
  
"Right," she said. "Well, I have a plan. But if it's got any chance of working, you'll need to cover for me. No-one must know that I'm gone - but I will leave the city tonight, with Joela here." She indicates one of the maidservants; none of them had taken a second glance at any of them, and she looked like nothing special to their indifferent gaze. "You will pray for my safe return; and you will encourage the people to pray for deliverance. We will need all of the divine intervention that we can get."  
  
Ozias nodded. "Godspeed," he said, "and we will do as you ask."  
  
And all of the city councillors shuffled out of her attic apartment, leaving her to her preparations.  
  
"Leaving tonight?" asked Joela.  
  
"Sooner the better," Judith replied. "Anyway, there will be water out of the city. Best to head out now and save what's left in our personal supply for the others - and those who come to the door in need. Of which I expect there to be quite a few, if this crazy situation lasts the full five days..."  
  
\----  
  
There was plenty to be done to get ready, but she took a moment to head down to the house shrine and have a few words with the God. Or, at least, _to_ God: she thought He was unlikely to actually speak in return to a non-priestly type, especially a woman.  
  
"Lord," she said, observing the standard ritual with the uncomfortable clothes and the ashes on her forehead: the symbols that the comforts of the world are nothing, and all is burnt up and worthless in the end, compared to Him.  
  
"Lord, you know how terrible these people are. You gave my ancestors the power to take vengeance on their enemies; and if anyone deserves vengeance, it's these people, who fundamentally think they're better than us just because they have a bigger army.  
  
"And, more to the point, think that their 'king' - who is just a mortal man - is better than You - and they're coming to tear down Your Temple, just like they tore down the 'holy' places of everyone else they've conquered.  
  
"You've defeated our enemies for us before - the Egyptians, for instance. So help me now; because if there's one thing that will really defeat them utterly, it's if their commander is brought down by someone they didn't even think was a person, someone they didn't think was capable of meaningful action.  
  
"I'm going to need Your help, because I've never done anything like this before; I don't want to feel pity for him, or fear for myself. But if we do it this way, I reckon that everyone will credit You with it, rather than trying to raise anyone up as a hero - and that's just fine by me, because this city doesn't deserve a hero, given the mess the council of elders have made of everything.  
  
"Anyway. Protect Your lands, Your holy places - or don't. It's Your choice. But I'm going to go out and do my best."  
  
So then she washed the ashes out of her hair, and got herself dressed up, like she hadn't had cause to since the death of her husband. She'd had quite a nice collection of jewellery and perfume, and she piled on as much of it as she could without tipping over into looking tacky.  
  
Meanwhile, Joela got together the food and drink they'd need for the journey. They'd need a fair amount, as Judith suspected that the dietary laws she was determined to abide by weren't exactly going to be respected by the people she hoped to become the guest of.  
  
Having dedicated this trip to the service of the Lord, it would be a pretty poor showing to immediately turn around and violate some of His dictates right under, she hoped, His gaze; and anyway, they might get into a tight spot and be glad of some provisions generally.  
  
\----  
  
The councillors had successfully taken up the guard shift on the city gates; it wasn't their turn, but Judith had been quite specific about avoiding the spread of information about her plan. If it hadn't been for Joela still in her plain servant's dress, they would have had a hard time being sure it was her. The expressions on their faces as they saw the plain and modest widow transformed into a blushing bride on her wedding day told Judith that she'd pitched the outfit perfectly for best effect on unsuspecting men.  
  
They muttered some kind of prayer over her as she sailed regally out of the city, but she paid them little attention. At least they had managed to do something right for once, she thought to herself, as she headed determinedly down the hill into the waiting arms of the enemy army.  
  
She had picked her time just right. The dawning sun was just creeping above the horizon as she silhouetted herself against the hillside, letting the enemy watchmen get a good look at her.  
  
The common soldiers that stopped her were, as she'd hoped, stunned into politeness - somewhat overawed by the radiant beauty she had worked so hard to create.  
  
"Excuse me, miss," one of them said, apologetically. "I'm afraid me and my friends here have to ask - where is it that you're going, all dressed up like that? And where did you spring from, anyway?"  
  
"I am one of the women of the city which you have under siege," she admitted. Now that she'd got their attention in a group, it seemed less likely there would be any trouble. "I've run away, because their policy of not surrendering is just making everyone miserable. So I thought I would throw myself on Prince Holofernes' mercy personally; I've lived in this city all my life, and I have information which he would likely be quite interested in."  
  
They were clearly thinking that she also had some other assets, which _they_ were quite interested in. But also they knew that they could hardly deny those assets to the Prince, not now that she had invoked his name. There were too many of them gathered now to trust everyone present not to report the others' conduct; if such a report were to be made, there would certainly be a reward in it for the reporter, and there were likely rich spoils to be had shortly.  
  
"You're very fortunate," said one of the soldiers, regaining his voice. "If you'd waited much longer, you'd have died with the rest of them."  
  
"Come with us, and don't worry your head, neither," said another. "The Prince is a good man, and we're no savages. If what you say is true, you'll be treated well. Most likely, you'll be treated well in any case, just for coming out of the city in the first place."  
  
They marched into the camp, her sweeping along in their midst, not _too_ confident - she didn't want to be offputting enough that someone might suspect she had ulterior motives - but certainly too high and exalted for the likes of them.  
  
And they came to the command tent, had a quick conversation with the guard on the door, and ushered her inside.  
  
\----  
  
She had quite a stock of her own jewellery and precious things, but it was nothing compared to the finery arrayed around Holofernes. He had a canopy in the most expensive colours, purple and gold fit for a king, and his entire vicinity was liberally studded with precious stones, emeralds and the like. For a moment, she didn't have to feign being impressed; she was feeling a little bit of awe herself, to have been taken into the presence of such a powerful man with so little trouble.  
  
Immediately, she bent herself low, in an appropriately humble position for a petitioner coming before a king, but she had seen in his eyes that he was also affected by her appearance. He must have given some kind of signal, as suddenly there were soldiers right beside her. For a moment she almost panicked, thinking she had been caught out somehow, but they were just there to pick her up from her low bow and indicate that she was now allowed to lift her head in front of the Prince.  
  
"Don't be afraid of me," said the Prince. "I've never hurt anyone who came to us in peace; men, women, children, not a single one. We're only at war because your people forced our hand. But I am curious - why would a woman leave her people, and venture into the enemy camp?"  
  
"I'm sorry to make you listen to a woman's words," she said, trying to remember her carefully rehearsed words. "But we have heard, even in such a poor city as ours, of your great King. And we have heard of your own great skill and prowess in battle, and in all other affairs of state. And, if you will forgive me for mentioning his name, we have also heard of the comments made by Achior at your court, and the manner in which he was exiled."  
  
Holofernes seemed a little surprised that a woman would know that name, but he was still distracted by her perfume and the other artistry she has employed to be particularly interesting to look at, and let her continue.  
  
"Alas, even if he was correct, there is clearly no hope for my people; we've been busy doing every one of the profane things that he said would make us easy pickings. We've had prophecies and warnings, famine and drought, and that's just made things worse - as everyone has eaten the Temple offerings and taken to forbidden foods to make ends meet.  
  
"So I've come to tell you that the city is almost ready to make its surrender. In five days there will be nothing to stop you walking down the main street, and the people will cheer you as you walk, and no-one will as much as throw a stone."  
  
The soldiers were murmuring amongst themselves, but Holofernes was entranced.  
  
"Well," he said, "I suppose, then, we should celebrate. And you should be my guest of honour, of course."  
  
\----  
  
The soldiers took her to another well-appointed tent, which was doubling as Holofernes' personal storehouse; she supposed she was considered to be just another of his collected treasures, right now.  
  
But her status did have some advantages. Her guards didn't dare to gainsay any of her demands. She tested the waters a little by insisting that she was not going to eat any of the choice morsels that Holofernes had sent in for her enjoyment; the guards made a little fuss for the show of it, but were quite glad that they could eat them instead, leaving her to her own provisions.  
  
Then she asked to be allowed out of the camp, in order that she could pray to her own God without being surrounded by their heathen symbols; and to her surprise, they acquiesced to that demand, too.  
  
Holofernes came in to admire her a few times, but he was busy with the preparations for the peaceful annexation of her city; and there was some other undertone there too, as if he was afraid that she might resist, and prove him less of a man for needing to force her.  
  
Eventually he sent Vagao, his trusted advisor - and also, not incidentally, a eunuch - into the treasure-holding tent.  
  
"Judith," he asked, in all seriousness, "are you afraid of my master, still? He's planning to ask you to celebrate with him, tonight; after all, tomorrow you will regain your own city!"  
  
"I will of course obey my Prince," she said, carefully, "in whatever way is best for him."  
  
She had kept some of the layers of her finery off for a few days, while she was waiting, but now she re-adorned herself in everything she had to hand, setting the brooches and rings in a new pattern, sure to catch his eye once more.  
  
And she let herself be taken to his tent, where a table had been prepared for the two of them; due to her earlier requests, she was pleased to note that the food and drink provided for her were from Joela's supplies. She was certain that she could not have got this far without the blessing of her God, and she wasn't about to risk losing it at the most critical juncture.  
  
When she had been freshly a widow, she had drowned her sorrows excessively in wine, and she had still rather a taste for the produce of the vineyards that were her own now - although she shuddered to think what state they would be in, after all of this siege nonsense was over and done with. In any case, she could easily match the Prince's drinking, and she could tell he was relieved that the apparent innocent young lady had fallen for his schemes and would likely be biddable when it was time to retire.  
  
But her encouragement, and his determination not to let a woman outdrink him, took him well past the point that he could put his plans into action. She let him unwrap her like a gift, and take her into his bed; but while the spirit was no doubt willing, the flesh was decidedly weak.  
  
Still, she did the best she could for him; maybe her heart had not been hardened against pity quite so much as she had asked, and it was sad to let a man to go to the grave with such embarrassment as his final memory.  
  
Eventually, despite her tender ministrations, Holofernes fell into the deep sleep of the extremely intoxicated.  
  
Now it was time to do what she had come here for. She was not looking forwards to this part at all; even less, what was likely to come next, even if it went more or less to plan.  
  
Even less, what was likely to happen to Joela, who she felt so bad about not being able to protect any further. She knew the other woman had volunteered for the task as much as she had, but it still felt like her responsibility; after all, she was the effective head of the household, which essentially made her Joela's owner.  
  
The sword came out of the scabbard, abandoned at the foot of the bed, very smoothly. It was a little heavier than she had expected, and she held it in both hands; just one would not adequately control the blade.  
  
She did not want to spare the time to think too hard about what she was planning. With a desperate prayer - "If You're listening, this is where I think any chance of me doing this on my own ends, God!" - she brought the sharp blade down on his throat.  
  
There was so much blood. She had not expected there to be so much blood. It would be in her hair - but there was a small jug of water on the nightstand, that would do to wash it, and her clothes were safely and neatly piled out of the rather impressive blast radius.  
  
While the stroke had undoubtedly killed the man, she had somewhat hoped to be able to bring back a trophy, as she knew the men of the city would continue to be weak and doubtful if she did not have some measure of solid proof. But the thought of hacking further at his neck, wading through all the blood still spurting from the wound... and she had managed to wedge the blade in something, his neck having proved rather sturdier than she had expected.  
  
Then her eyes alighted on something else - his ring, his signet ring, that would never leave his finger. At first she thought maybe she could take the finger for good measure as well, but after bending it back until she was 'rewarded' with the stomach-churning noise of the bone giving way, she realised that there was no sensible way she was going to be able to take a swing at it.  
  
So she simply confiscated the ring; washed off the worst of the blood; and re-clothed herself, leaving the few items which had managed to get blood on them all the way over on the other side of the tent, and the more impractical layers that would get in the way of a good sprint.  
  
Then she simply headed out of the tent, looking properly subdued and hobbling very slightly - like a good maiden who has just had a good man, but been banished from his bed.  
  
Joela joined her out of the servants' tent, looking concerned at the lack of a bundle. "I'll explain later," Judith promised her; and then they were at the camp entrance.  
  
"A little late, isn't it?" said the duty soldier.  
  
"Please, sir," she begged him, "we normally go out to pray a little earlier, it is true, but I was... attending to your Prince."  
  
Taking pity on the two women who looked up with such hope in their eyes, the guard let them past, out into the valley.  
  
\----  
  
"So what did you do?" demanded Joela, once they were well out of earshot of the camp.  
  
"Exactly what we were going to do," Judith replied, defensively, "except for the head bit. I mean. I killed him. He's definitely dead. You can't lose that much blood without being dead."  
  
"Did you get surprised?" asked Joela. "So you couldn't finish the job?"  
  
"No, no, nothing like that," replied Judith. "I just couldn't actually get his head to come off. If I'd fought with it, then I'd maybe have had an unrecognisable bloody thing. And there was blood everywhere; and the sword was stuck - in his spine or something."  
  
"Blood everywhere?" asked Joela, skeptically. "So why is your dress completely clean?"  
  
Judith just looked at Joela, but the other woman didn't look like she was going to back down from her question. "Why do you think?" she asked, eventually. Joela had the decency to look slightly embarrassed, and change the subject.  
  
"So we've got nothing?" Joela said, not sounding very impressed, despite the unpleasant thought of her mistress having to be naked with that enemy prince. "They're not going to take our word for it - and it was all meant to be about morale, that's what I was trying to tell you. One man can't be that important to their military planning, however much fuss his people make about his great skill or whatever."  
  
"Not quite nothing," said Judith, digging into the folds of her clothes to retrieve the ring. "Look - I got his signet ring."  
  
"I see," said Joela, not sharing Judith's enthusiasm. "And you think the man on the street can tell one ring for another, or has any confidence that isn't just someone's ring done up to look a bit like a signet ring?"  
  
"Oh." Judith hadn't thought of that. "Um. It's a bit late to..."  
  
"Yeah," said Joela. "Never mind. We've only got about even odds of getting past the outer sentries anyway; we'll just have to hope that what we've got will be enough."  
  
"Or pray," Judith reminded her.  
  
"Or pray," echoed Joela dutifully, but it was clear that she put about as much confidence in that as she did in the signet ring.  
  
\----  
  
Judith rearranged a few more layers of her clothing to look a lot more like the recognisable, respectable widow that the whole city knew, and they headed out into the centre of the road. Both were slightly scratched and their clothes torn by the circuitous route, under at least a little cover all the way, that Joela had insisted that they take.  
  
The guards on the walls clearly knew who they were as soon as they were spotted: the heavily barred gates were hastily opened at their approach.  
  
Chabri was already at the gate when they finished the short walk up the road. He had obviously been waiting nearby, even though it was the middle of the night.  
  
"I couldn't sleep for worrying about you," he admitted, as the watch ushered her inside and closed the gate behind her. Curious onlookers were beginning to gather in ever-increasing numbers, the night turning into day with all of their lamps and torches. "Look, we'd better get you inside somewhere before this crowd causes a fire hazard."  
  
Charmi's house was near the gate, and his servants were quite happy to let them in despite the lateness of the hour when they realised that they could get an excellent vantage point on the gossip of the year. Once they were inside, Judith practically collapsed into a chair; Joela leaned scornfully against a wall, determined to prove that she was made of sterner stuff, but after a few moments the servants had fetched her a chair as well.  
  
"Well?" asked Chabri. "What happened? Has the Lord delivered us?"  
  
"I got this," said Judith, dropping the signet ring on the table.  
  
Chabri picked it up and inspected it in the flickering lamp-light. "Now," he said. "That would have been very useful, very useful indeed - a few weeks ago, when we could have the time to prepare false orders, and send them out with it. But now the people are dying of thirst, and demanding that we open the gates and let the enemy within the walls; I can't see them holding out for some kind of stratagem."  
  
Judith thought of all the ears that were surrounding them; all the servants who would undoubtedly repeat everything that she said. But she decided, at that moment, that she didn't care. She had done what she had done; let the dice fall where they may. God knew her reasons, and ultimately, wasn't she answerable only to Him?  
  
"I also killed its owner," she said, in an offhand, weary fashion.  
  
"Really?" said Chabri, his eyebrows threatening to break through the ceiling. "You killed the Prince of the Assyrians, with your own womanly hands?"  
  
"Yes," she said. "And before you ask how I did it, I suggest you think for yourself for a moment; you're a grown and married man, are you not?"  
  
Chabri did think for himself, for a moment.  
  
"Ah," he said. "Well. Yes. Um."  
  
"But the problem is," Judith pressed on, "that I didn't get his head. That was the original plan; something iconic, something that would prove to everyone that he was dead. But it turns out that cutting a man's head off is not as simple as I had been led to believe."  
  
"Well... no," said Chabri. "No, it isn't. Quite difficult, actually."  
  
"So there we are," said Judith. "I've done my part."  
  
"Although," he continued, as if he hadn't even heard her. "In some ways... it's not that difficult at all." He called over one of Charmi's servants. "I don't suppose," he asked, "that you could find out if we have any more male prisoners from the Assyrians - or any particularly heinous criminals who are due for punishment? And hurry - we need to act quickly, before the disorder in their camp has died down."  
  
\----  
  
So it was that Judith took up her makeup once more, and some dyes for the hair, and her styling tools. From her excellent memory of the Prince's face, she disguised the rather distasteful, bloody object she was brought by Chabri into an incredibly approximate likeness of his deceased majesty.  
  
And it was this object that she presented to a rather dazed-looking Achior, who had been called out of his bed all of a sudden, to receive "great news of vital import, for both his home nation and the nation that had taken him in", as the servant had told him.  
  
"You're Achior, who made the proclamation about how our God would prevail, if He so chose, over your people?" Judith asked him, in front of a large and appreciative audience of townsfolk; they were glad that there was some theatre after the long wait outside Chabri's house to see what was happening.  
  
"Yes," he replied, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes and work out what was happening.  
  
"Then you will recognise this," she said triumphantly, as Joela reached gingerly into the bag which had contained their provisions and brought out the bloodied and battered, barely recognisable head.  
  
For a moment she thought that she had not done a good enough job with the makeup, but then Achior did a double-take and exclaimed: "That's Prince Holofernes - the great war-leader himself! He was the one who threatened me with death, and had me tied to a tree - I'd recognise that smug face anywhere."  
  
"Everyone," called out Judith, knowing this was the one and only time she would be able to hold the crowd's attention. "This 'Prince' of the Assyrians - this night, I cut off his head with my own hands - hands which had never before held a sword, and I hope dearly will never have to again.  
  
"Heed the lessons of your Lord our God, who lifts up those who are humble, and casts down those who are proud - and prepare yourselves for battle, as soon as we can form ranks! The Lord of all Lords is with us this day!"  
  
\----  
  
It was not the longest or the best prepared inspirational speech the world had ever heard, but to the men of the city - well, some were bored of waiting, and some were determined to prove themselves better than any woman, and some were afraid to seem cowardly next to their neighbours. It didn't hurt that Charmi, once he'd been woken, had gone to a few of his closest friends and asked them to loudly encourage their friends and neighbours around them to do as Judith asked.  
  
And whilst the enemy would surely have recovered quickly if they had been given the chance, the combination of a supposedly cowed city coming out in force against them with the shock of finding their commander-in-chief naked and dead in a pool of his own blood left them with no strength to repel the Israelite forces, who were convinced their God was on their side and that this made them an unstoppable force of righteousness.  
  
Judith, meanwhile, did her best to go back to her everyday life.  
  
She had plenty of business to attend to, dealing with the damage that had been done to her holdings, especially the crops which had gone without water and the storehouses that had been thoroughly emptied in the crisis of the siege. It didn't overly bother her, that she had taken a life; there was always meat on her table, after all, and she allowed the law to deal harshly with those who occasionally tried to take their chances with a vulnerable window's estate.  
  
There were a few difficulties, of course. The High Priest of Israel decided to show up, and entertaining such a dignitary occupied her household for some time while she let herself be anointed and heard her praises being sung. The multitude of gifts, well, she passed them on to Joela; the girl had set herself up a profitable sewing business, and while she was quite stubborn about the matter of finding a husband to protect her, everyone knew that any trouble sent in her direction would get back to Judith.  
  
But by and large, well, life went on. After all, that's what life tends to do.


End file.
